Lieutenant Charles L. McClure

Charles Lee McClure, photo extracted from the University City High School 

He married Betty B. Buchanan McClure and the couple had 5 children.  His wife died 24 March 1981, by then age 64, in Appleton Wisconsin. The same year Charles McClure remarried Edith Miriam Goodell Sairs McClure, born 16 July 1920 in Somerville, Massachusetts. His first wife was his therapist in the Walter Reed Hospital, his second wife was a nurse.

Edith Miriam Goodell Sairs McClure, Army nurse.

He was the navigator of plane 07 (The Ruptured Duck) during the Doolittle Raid in 1942.

Charles L. McClure was severly injured when he was thrown through the plexy glass of plane's cockpit when plane 7 crashed near the coast of China after bombing Japan. Charles life was saved by his crewmember David J. Thatcher. Thatcher brought his crew to safety after the crash. After partly recovered from his injuries in China he flew back to the USA. There he was hospitalized in the Walter Reed hopsital. Back to active duty during 1943

Charles L. McClure, left on the picture, recovering at the Enze hospital in China. 1942.

Maj. Gen. Milliard F. Harmon giving the Distinguished Flying Cross to Charles L. McClure.  Next to him is Harold F. Watson of  the «Whirling Dervish» plane (crew 9) and Ted Lawson. Picture taken at the Walter Reed hospital.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo is a 1944 American war film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay by Dalton Trumbo is based on the 1943 book of the same name by Captain Ted W. Lawson. Crew 07/ Lawson was a pilot on the historic Doolittle Raid, America's first retaliatory air strike against Japan, four months after the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The raid was planned, led by, and named after United States Army Air Forces Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, who was promoted two ranks, to Brigadier General, the day after the raid.  Don DeFore played the role of Charles L. McClure.

Picture below : On the left is a hand-made shirt given to Charles L. McClure while hiding in China. The inscription reads, "In honorable memory of the first bombing of Japan, Allied hero, presented by the city of Chi-An, China."

On 7 December 1942, one year to the day after Pearl Harbor, a dedication ceremony was scheduled at Lambert Field in St. Louis where a fully operational P-51 Mustang was to be flown in. Leading the ceremony was Charles L. McClure of University City, Missouri, who flew in Jimmy Doolittle's raid on Tokyo on 18 April 1942. Unfortunately, bad weather prevented the P-51's arrival, but the assembled crowd still held a banquet dinner. There, Charles McClure enthralled the audience with the story of his top-secret mission over Tokyo, which ended with a dramatic crash landing on the China coast, followed by 30 days of recuperation in various Chinese villages and hospitals.

The P-51 arrived a few days later, and the dedication was rescheduled for 12 December 1942, McClure once again presided and officially accepted the plane on behalf of the Army. The wife of the business manager swung a bottle of champagne against its propeller, saying, "I christen you St. Louis Spirit." This name, as well as the IBEW seal sponsor of the event, was proudly emblazoned on the side of the plane.

Durig 1945 Charles L. McClure was in the hospital again. In June 1945 he was released from the hospital and was retired from a physical disability.

If someone has more info and pictures on Charles McClure's profile, please contact me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.